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Nascent Site: Sight

ASU Photo Alumni Celebrate Over 40 Years at Northlight Gallery

The ASU Photo Alumni Association celebrates over 40 years of distinctive photography exhibitions at Northlight Gallery with a members show at the newly renovated gallery space at Grant Street Studios in downtown Phoenix. Northlight Gallery has moved to downtown Phoenix to join Step Gallery and School of Art graduate students. The exhibition Nascent Site: Sight will run Sept. 18 – Oct. 17.

Northlight Gallery was founded on the Tempe campus by Professor Jack Stuler and MFA photo students in 1972 at a time when the medium was struggling to be recognized locally as a fine art. Now 43 years later, photography and related digital technologies dominate contemporary art as well as our daily lives. ASU’s photography program has expanded to include seven full time professors and offers classes in experimental film and the environment with Julie Anand, field photography and digital fine printing with Mark Klett, alternative and historical photographic processes with Binh Danh, photographic aesthetics with Bill Jenkins, documentary photography with Stephen Marc, portraiture with Betsy Schneider and photo history with Betsy Fahlman.

Northlight Gallery continues to serve a vital role in the educational experience of students pursuing a degree in photography. The permanent collection includes internationally renowned photographers such as Ansel Adams, Thomas Barrow, Harry Callahan, Van Deren Coke, Betty Hahn, Eikoh Hosoe, Aaron Siskind and Paul Strand. Students also benefit from the Solari Foundation Collection which includes works by Eugene Atget, Manuel Alverez Bravo, Henri Cartier Bresson, Mary Ellen Mark, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Frederick Sommer and Edward Weston. Northlight Gallery students enrolled in the photo exhibitions class with curator Liz Allen work directly with the collections to curate exhibitions, catalog and preserve artworks, as well as design and install shows. This kind of hands-on experience with master works is inspiring and creates a professional environment in which students apply skills and knowledge as they learn.

Join Northlight Gallery at Grant Street Studios for an exhibition of alumni for whom ASU’s photo program was the site of their nascent artistic vision. The Grand Opening Reception is Third Friday, Sept. 18 from 6:00–9:00 p.m. Then in October, return on First and Third Fridays at 6:30 p.m. for gallery talks with alumni who present a more in-depth look at their work and artistic process.